The present invention relates to a yarn winding apparatus and method for winding a continuously advancing yarn on a driven tube so as to form a wound package.
EP 0 477 787 discloses a method and apparatus of the described type, wherein a continuously advancing yarn is threaded onto a driven tube. In this apparatus, the tube is held between two clamping plates, and the clamping plates are rotatably mounted on a package holder. On the side facing the tube, the clamping plates each have a centering extension which is conical and extends into the end of the tube. Thus, the tube is centered.
Before the winding is started, the continuously advancing yarn is removed by means of a suction device. To thread the yarn on the tube, the yarn guide is moved with the yarn such that the yarn is caught by one of the clamping plates. To this end, a catching slot with a catching nose inclined in the circumferential direction is formed in the edge region of the clamping plate. After the yarn is caught by the catching nose, it is clamped and cut.
To enable a reliable and rapid catching of the yarn, it is necessary that the yarn enter into the catching slot such that it slides under the catching nose. To this end, the known winding apparatus is provided with a drop-in slot in the clamping plate. In the rotational direction of the clamping plate, this drop-in slot precedes the clamping slot. However, it must also be ensured that loopings generated by the yarn as a result of deflections do not lead, in relation to the winding tension, to any major tension fluctuations in the yarn, which would result in the formation of laps on preceding feed elements.
It is therefore an object of the invention to further develop a winding apparatus and method of the initially described kind, which ensures a reliable catching of the yarn while the yarn is guided as gently as possible at the same time.